While off-season construction is creating a mess here, the first phase of the city's 10-year, $63 million renovation of the commercial resort area should yield some visible results by the upcoming tourist season - most noticeably a beautified, color-coordinated boardwalk.

"The whole purpose of the project, really, is to clean up the area," said Karen Possage-Morgan, a city engineer overseeing the renovation.

For several years, city officials have thought about giving the resort strip its first major facelift since the major hotel boom began in the early 1970s. The City Council hired consultants to identify what the tourists, residents and businesses wanted along the oceanfront and what improvements should be made.

One of the study's most significant findings: millions spend their vacations here, but many aren't all that impressed.

"There was a feeling that the advertising of the resort was making it much nicer than it was," said J. Barry Frankenfield of the city's Resort Programs Office. "When people got here, it was a disappointment."

As a result, repeat business - those tourists who return to Virginia Beach after their first visit - has been declining, he said.

About 2.5 million overnight vacationers went to Virginia Beach in 1988, spending about $500 million. Those numbers have been rising each year, but not as much as some officials would like.

The major drawbacks, they say, have been the drab appearance of the boardwalk that runs east of the hotels and the cluttered, run-down look of Atlantic Avenue, the street just west of the beach where all the restaurants, wax museums and souvenir shops are located.

The massive renovation will focus on those two areas.

The Atlantic Avenue improvements will take several years to complete because crews can finish only five blocks each year. But 23 blocks of the boardwalk, between 10th and 33rd streets, will be ready for the upcoming beach season.

The concrete boardwalk runs parallel to the ocean beginning roughly at 5th Street and ending at 38th. One side touches the beach; the other side is lined with high-rise hotels - everything from the Sheraton to the Sea Gull. The skyline is broken up by an open space at each block, where beachgoers can walk between the boardwalk and Atlantic Avenue.

As part of the renovation, the paved bike path that runs parallel to the boardwalk is being moved back about 11 feet to ensure that bikers and walkers don't collide. Colorful plants will be placed between the two paths to create a barrier and a garden-like view.

Wooden benches will line the boardwalk for the 23 blocks; tall white pole lights will accompany them. The city installed some benches and lights last year, but only as an experiment on a few blocks.

"The boardwalk was uninteresting," Frankenfield said. "There was no place to sit. There was nothing to do."

Colored flags will fly at each of the 23 walking entrances, and each entrance will display a 5-foot-high welcome sign and map. The flags and signs will be emblazoned in pink, peach and aquamarine hues.

"The whole thing has a specific theme with specific colors," Frankenfield said.

At seven of the 23 entrances, the city has developed decorative brick walkways with foot-washing faucets. Next October, crews will finish the boardwalk project by building four new brick walkways and beautifying the remaining 10 blocks. The boardwalk project alone will cost $3.3 million, or about $100,000 per block.

"It sounds like a lot of money, and it is," Frankenfield said. "But for what the result is, it's not an expensive solution."

The most costly endeavor will be Atlantic Avenue. This winter, a contractor is digging a tunnel between 19th and 25th streets, considered the heart of the commercial area, to bury power lines. The solution is purely cosmetic: overhead wires just make the place look more congested.

The utility work should be done by May 1. But starting in October, crews will be back to make more obvious changes to those blocks of Atlantic. They will modernize the traffic signals, install benches, plant flowers and provide more attractive trash receptacles.

Last year the city passed an ordinance banning signs that hang over the sidewalk, another move that helped the strip's appearance.

Eventually the city will make improvements to every block on Atlantic Avenue from Rudee Inlet to 42nd Street. Over the next decade, the cost is expected to be about $30 million.

Several other resort projects are on the drawing board, although money for them hasn't been approved. The city plans to spend up to $13 million to provide more and better parking and another $2 or $3 million to provide a "gateway" and information center for travelers.

The Resort Programs Office also wants to provide restrooms and parking off the main drag for local residents who want to enjoy the beach but don't want the hassles of the tourist area. First, however, the city must figure out where that will be - perhaps on the beach's north end - and then must negotiate with property owners for rights-of-way.

The city also spends money each year to replenish sand to the beach to prevent erosion that is taking place up and down the coast.

Frankenfield said competition for beach tourism is getting tougher, especially with families taking fewer and shorter vacations. He said it's important for Virginia Beach to spend money to modernize if it is to keep up with its two biggest competitors: Ocean City, Md., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"To look at it as a business, you have to keep re-investing in your business," Frankenfield said. "There should be at least an economic return in tax dollars based on increased tourism."